Murder at Cheltenham
by DD Agent
Summary: Summer, 1996.  While investigating a murder at FLETC, Gibbs meets an agent that certainly makes a first impression, and could be the answer to his search for a new partner. Part of the '97 Series, along with "TGIF" and "Be Cool"
1. Chapter 1

**Murder at ****Cheltenham by DD Agent**

_I do not own NCIS or any of its characters, or its settings - all belongs to the lovely folks at CBS._

_Well people seemed to love the "Thank God Its Friday" and "Be Cool" fics and the universe, now titled the '97 Series so I'm going to write more. I plan to write fics between Jenny and Jethro's first meeting, and their first goodbye. This is my take on how Jenny first met Gibbs, and I hope you enjoy it as much as the others! I also am in the process of writing some oneshots where there is Decker and Burley. So lots of pre series goodness!_

_As always, I hope you enjoy! _

_[And Chap Two will be up tomorrow ; )]_

**Chapter One**

"You know, I really can't wait to finish damn training and get into NCIS, you know? I hate how long they keep us waiting."

Jenny Shepard didn't even look up from her notes as her sort of boyfriend Jack Chrysler talked to their fellow trainees. Every lunch break they shared went along similar lines - speeches about how training was too easy for him, how he couldn't wait to be working out of the DC office. Jenny knew his plans also included a woman of some description - wife and kids although that would be after he got his own team at NCIS. Jenny was pretty damn sure that she wouldn't be asked to play that role, or at least she hoped not. She had her own plans at NCIS, and they didn't involve Jack Chrysler.

"Jenny'll tell you, she saw me on the shooting range yesterday." Jack knocked her shoulder, wanting her to eagerly explain how brilliant he was both off the range and on.

"I need to go check something," Jenny muttered, pressing a kiss to Jack's cheek and hurrying away from 'their' group of friends as quick as she could. He looked a little put out, but she didn't care. There were no real feelings involved, she wasn't sure if she still _could_ feel.

Once out in the fresh air, away from the mindless talk of Jack and 'their' friends, Jenny could think properly about what the future held. She had applied for NCIS a few months ago when she had realised that it had nearly been a year since her father had passed away, and she had done nothing with her time apart from bury him. She had applied with the hope that she could clear her father's name - and maybe even find the man who murdered him. But, at the same time, it was just something that could stop her spending every day at her father's grave.

"Hey Jenny!"

Jenny waved at someone walking across from her; she didn't even recognise the face. Maybe it was one of the recruits from another training centre - her whole class from Glynco had come to Cheltenham for the last couple of weeks of their course. But Jenny knew the real reason she didn't recognise the face. Being a Navy brat, Jenny had learned quickly how to fit in without becoming part of the crowd.

At FLETC, she had a boyfriend, socialised with the group but she wasn't one of them. Still grieving her father, she wanted to keep herself bottled up for a while longer. She'd even stayed in a motel room with Jack rather than drive from Maryland to DC to stay in her actual home. She wanted to keep things separate, so when graduation came she could get the fresh start she needed, hopefully in an outpost in Europe, away from anything that reminded her of her father.

"Afternoon Sarah."

She nodded at the fellow agent slumped in her seat, looking over notes. All of them were pretty burned out, Sarah especially. Jenny decided to fire off a few rounds in the shooting range, blowing off some steam. She was still off target for one of them, missing the headshot by an inch. The heart was fine, but the head was still giving her trouble. She needed to spend less time listening to Jack ramble and more time on the range.

"Should have just gone to law school like Mom wanted," Jenny muttered as she put back the equipment and headed out of the booth.

Sarah was gone when she walked back through. Just as she was about to head out the front doors, Jenny saw Jack and 'their' friends move to enter the shooting range. Not wanting to get caught up in whatever Jack was trying to prove, Jenny decided to go out the back way.

That was when she found Sarah hanging from a tree.

X

Leroy Jethro Gibbs was debating how best to spend his time. He had no open cases. He had no paperwork to do. He had no partner to shoot the breeze with. He didn't even have a wife to argue with.

The last open case had been a drug bust of two petty officers. The paperwork had been done in a matter of hours, and he'd even left work early. Mike had left a month ago for retirement in Mexico, and he'd been helping other teams until he could settle on a new partner. As for Diane, the divorce papers had been finalised after a lengthy negotiation nearly the length of his damn marriage. So he decided to do the only thing he could do - and put coins in a glass of water.

"Special Agent Gibbs?"

Jethro looked up to see the Director's assistant waiting on the catwalk. The Director obviously wanted to see him - perhaps he was finally getting his new partner? He stopped putting coins in his glass and headed up the stairs to go see Morrow. He'd been declared the new Director just as Mike had left. While everyone thought the Director's exit was to do with the bombings, Director Hamilton had left because of a sex scandal with the previous autopsy assistant. Ducky hadn't been too happy to find them doing it on a mortuary slab.

He hadn't been too happy about it either. He _slept _on those slabs.

"Director?"

"Take a seat please, Special Agent Gibbs."

Gibbs took a seat opposite Morrow. He so far seemed a good guy. At least his assistant and the mortuary slabs seemed to think so. Morrow took out a file and passed it to Gibbs.

"A body was found at FLETC in Cheltenham twenty minutes ago. The victim, Sarah Dane, was training to be a NCIS agent. We've kept it quiet so far, the trainers managed to gather everyone inside before they discovered her body."

He nodded. "I see. So you want me to find out who killed her."

"It appears to be a suicide, but the young woman who found the body claims that not twenty minutes before she was found she was in the shooting range." Morrow shifted forward. "Gibbs, I want you to work with the NCIS Training Agents on this. You have no partner, and this will give you a perfect opportunity to pick your next one. Because it will be coming out of that group."

Gibbs groaned. He had to investigate a murder with a bunch of probies? Even worse than that, one of them would become his next partner? Suddenly, life married to Diane didn't seem so bad.

"Sir, it's likely that one of those Agents is a killer."

"Don't pick that one as your partner."

Morrow stood up, making it clear that their conversation was over. Gibbs resisted the urge to growl - he was liking Morrow less and less. He reached over and offered Gibbs his hand, which he reluctantly took. Despite giving him a probie, Morrow had no apparent dark side and would probably stick around for a while. Wouldn't be a good idea to piss him off so quickly.

"Good luck, Agent Gibbs. Wrap this up quickly, if you can."

Jethro rubbed a hand over his face as he headed out to grab his gear and then be on his way to Maryland. Ducky would soon be on his way too. He hoped the medical examiner would stick around for a while, he didn't fancy his chances with a bunch of probies. He _wanted _to keep his job, and he didn't think brutally head slapping the new generation would go down well.

X

Jethro met Ducky and Robbie as they arrived at the training complex, having been briefed by one of the trainers at the entrance. All the trainers were inside keeping the trainees calm and unaware, the crime scene was all his. Robbie got the gurney automatically, and Ducky watched as his new assistant took the initiative and immediately went to the crime scene. Robbie had replaced the previous Director's plaything, and was so far proving to be much more effective. A previous EMT, he knew the body and knew how to be fast on his feet. He also had just as many stories to tell as Ducky.

"Well this should certainly be entertaining, shouldn't it, Jethro?" Ducky said as they walked across to where Robbie was going with the gurney.

"Yeah, Duck. Should be a damn riot," Jethro sighed, taking a sip of the coffee he had picked up on the way. "Morrow wants me to pick one of these idiots to be my new partner."

"Well you never know, Jethro, one of them may surprise you." Ducky rested a hand on his friend's shoulder. "I know it's been a rough year for you. You've gone from being married and partnered with Mike Franks to being on your own. You know the invitation to dinner still stands, Jethro."

Jethro shrugged his shoulders and they continued forward to the crime scene. "I know, Duck. I guess I just want to find my partner the right way, rather than having to decide from a pool of probies."

They eventually came to the crime scene, which was under a big oak tree. There were several bags of evidence and a notepad at the base of the tree, and the young woman who had supposedly hung herself was on the grass. Everything seemed to be in order. However, Robbie was looking up at the tree with interest rather than down at the body.

"Something the matter, Robbie?" Ducky asked as they met him with the gurney.

Robbie nodded. "There's someone up in the tree."

Gibbs growled - this was not going to be his day. Stepping forward, he looked up into the tree. "FEDERAL AGENT!" He shouted.

"Give me a week and I'll be one too!"

Gibbs turned to Robbie to see if he could explain what was going on. The assistant rubbed the back of his neck. "Her name is Jenny, and she's one of the trainees here."

The federal agent sighed as he turned towards the tree again. This was why he hated probies - so desperate to prove themselves. This 'Jenny' had probably damaged all their evidence, had disturbed the crime scene and would make finding the killer damn near impossible.

"Your future as a federal agent is debatable at the moment. Did you really think it was a good idea to go climbing in a tree filled with evidence?"

The voice called down to him, this time with attitude. "Wouldn't have had to if you had showed up earlier! The trainers cut her down, kept everyone inside." A couple of leaves fell to the floor. "There should be evidence down on the ground - some crime scene photographs, sketches and I marked on the tree where the killer must have climbed to hang her."

Ducky was checking the liver temperature. "She died about six hours ago, Jethro."

"I KNEW IT!" came the voice from the tree. Ducky started to chuckle at the situation, Robbie was also smirking. Gibbs didn't share their enjoyment - he was getting angry.

"Knew what?"

The voice from the tree came again. "I was the one who found the body. I saw her about twenty minutes before that at the shooting range. I knew she didn't hang herself!"

"Any other evidence of that?" He knew it was a murder - hanging from a tree was usually an execution rather than a suicide. But he wanted to see if this probie had thought things through.

He could almost hear the eye roll from the girl in the tree. If she didn't soon come down, he was going to have to go up there and drag her down. "Well mister federal agent, how does one hang oneself from a tree?"

Gibbs growled. "With great difficulty! Can you come down now?"

"Sure thing."

Ducky kept smiling as the rustling in the tree increased, signalling she was about to come down. Gibbs moved forward and looked at where the probie had marked where someone could have got up to put the body on display. That was when he heard a curse; a branch break and a future special agent topple out of a tree and straight down on top of him.

When Gibbs looked up next, seeing a few stars after hitting his head on the hard ground, he got his first look at the woman giving him so much trouble. She had large green eyes, and a mess of red hair tied back in a ponytail. Her blouse was white with a huge beige stain over the front, which was no doubt caused by his coffee that she had spilt. She was sort of straddling him, and while she was disorientated from her fall, Gibbs reached for her hips and spun her onto the ground and off of him.

"Duck, instead of laughing, do you mind giving us a hand?" Jethro growled.

The medical examiner did stop laughing and went over to give his hand to the young woman who had fallen out of the tree. Gibbs had to pick himself up, briefly resting on Robbie's arm. His shirt was also stained with his coffee, although at least it didn't look as bad as the young woman's blouse.

"My dear, are you alright? You had quite a fall."

The future agent nodded, brushing a couple of leaves out of her hair. "It's okay. I don't think anything is broken."

"That's because I was there to break your fall."

The woman finally turned her attention to him and smiled. She held out a hand to him, which he reluctantly took when Ducky glared at him. She grinned at all three men at the crime scene.

"Jenny Shepard, it's a pleasure."


	2. Chapter 2

**Murder at ****Cheltenham by DD Agent**

_I do not own NCIS or any of its characters, or its settings - all belongs to the lovely folks at CBS_

_So happy you're enjoying this fic! Awesome points to everyone who has read it, put it on alert, favourited it etc, and major awesome points to Miss Jayne, MatteaAM, basket-case1880, HuddyJibbsAddict, 1kiko, Lil__MissJenny, and Mrs. Elizabeth Gibbs - thank you all so much for the wonderful reviews! _

_Chapter Three of "Murder at Cheltenham" will be up tomorrow, and for all "Angel of Death" fans - chapter three will be up tonight. Lots of fic! :D Hope you all enjoy! _

**Chapter Two**

Leroy Jethro Gibbs was not having the best day. It had got a heck of a lot worse when a lithe redhead had landed on top of him, and not in a way that he usually liked. He was now in one of the changing rooms at Cheltenham, waiting for said redhead and his only witness to get changed out of the clothes that _she _had spilled coffee on. Ducky and Robbie had been absolutely no help - once they had stopped laughing they had just headed back to the Navy Yard to do the autopsy.

"Got a spare shirt if you want it," came the voice from behind the door. He'd only seen the woman trying to kill him very briefly before she had headed in search of a change of clothes.

Gibbs looked down at his own shirt, stained with coffee. It was not a good look, and it would just piss him off even more. "Why not?"

A hand reached around the changing room door and handed him a FLETC t-shirt. Taking off his shirt and tie, Gibbs pulled on the clothing. It fitted nice - was probably about three sizes too big for the redhead. Finally the door to the changing room opened and he got another look at her. She had changed into a FLETC training kit, the shorts barely hitting mid thigh.

"I'm sorry about falling on top of you," she apologised, which made Gibbs even angrier.

"Don't apologise, it's a sign of weakness," he growled, causing the redhead's eyebrows to shoot up. He hated probies. "Now, it was Shepard, wasn't it? Shepard, are you going to fill me in on what you've managed to screw up today?"

Jenny smirked, liking this guy a little, even if he seemed determined to hate her. "I screwed up your shirt and mine. If you want a briefing about Sarah and her 'suicide', then talk to me like an actual person instead of some ditzy probie."

Gibbs realised he was in trouble with this one. She had two strikes already against her - she was a probie, and the tree incident. But she was also the one who knew most about what was going on - the FLETC trainers didn't seem to be trying to get actively involved in the investigation, just trying to keep it out of the press.

"I need more coffee. You know a place where I can go?"

"Sure. I'll tell you if you buy me a cup."

Gibbs smirked, but conceded. She took them to a coffee shop just off of the training grounds, where he bought them both a cup of coffee. He then bought her a muffin, hoping to stop her shaking so much. He'd noticed it in the changing room, and thought it might be the fall but then wondered if finding a friend's body had rattled her more than she was letting on. He put all three items on the table with such force that it made her jump. But the reaction was only there for a second before it was gone, and her eyes had turned to stained glass.

"What do you know about the victim?" Gibbs asked, bringing out his pad.

Shepard brushed loose hair behind her ear. "Sarah - Sarah Dane - was one of the trainees doing the last two weeks of the NCIS training course here. She excelled at most of the forensic elements, but suffered in tactical and firearm areas. I wasn't surprised to find her at the shooting range; she has a real problem hitting the target."

Gibbs nodded, writing all this down. "Was she seeing anyone?"

"I heard she was sort of seeing someone at Glynco, but it was only rumours." Jenny reached over for her coffee. Her nose wrinkled at how black it was. "Did you look at the forensic evidence I collected?"

"Yeah, I did." It was good work. She had managed to take a couple of shots of the body still hanging before the idiot trainers had cut her down. She'd even managed to get some samples of the bark where the rope had been so the forensic team could check for any foreign substances. "Thank you for your help, Agent Shepard."

He didn't seem like a man to give praise often, so she smiled as she realised he truly meant that. "What are you going to tell the others? The other trainees?"

Gibbs shrugged. "That one of their own was murdered, and its likely one of them is a suspect."

Shepard - he didn't want to think of her as Jenny - leaned forward conspiratorially. "Am I a suspect?"

"Until proven otherwise, yes you are."

She grinned brightly, and he found himself smiling in response. There was something about this girl - although a little shaken up she wasn't sobbing in a bathroom stall after finding a body. She was trying to help him solve his case instead. However, until he knew who was definitely behind it all, he couldn't trust her. She was still a suspect, like the rest of them.

"I have an idea, if you're willing to hear it."

"About the case?" Gibbs had packed up his belongings, ready to leave and head back to the training ground. He did have a case to solve, after all.

Shepard tucked more hair behind her ear. "You've got to interview all of them, right?" And involve them in the case somehow. He still didn't know how he was going to do that. So he just nodded. "Well everyone is expecting there to be a final test before we graduate next week. You could tell everyone a murder has happened and ask them to help solve it; while I can leak to everyone it's secretly just a test. I'll say I caught you setting up and was sworn to secrecy or something."

Gibbs cocked an eyebrow. "Why would I do that?"

_Because you're the first person in the five months of __training I've actually made a connection with? _"I don't know my fellow trainees as well as some of the others do. But I do know this. You put people in a room and accuse them of murder; they'll hide things from you. Put a bunch of overachieving students in a room and the possibility of getting an 'A' - they'll tell you everything."

Gibbs stood up, working through Shepard's idea in his head. Was pretty good. She took the coffee and the muffin and stood up too, wrapping her arms around herself.

"I know that whatever you do, when we go back to Cheltenham you've got to treat me like all the others, like suspects or secret suspects. But can you, whatever happens, keep me in the loop? I liked Sarah."

Jenny also wanted to make sure Gibbs got it right. When the trainers had been declaring it a suicide, she had almost hit someone. Just because it appeared a suicide didn't mean it was. Unlike the agents assigned to her father's case, she was determined to catch Sarah's killer.

"I will. We better go back, got a murder enquiry to get started." Gibbs smiled and started moving towards the door. Before he got there, he turned back to her, grabbing a fistful of the t-shirt. "Thanks for the loan."

Shepard smiled at him again. "No problem. Would like it back once you're done with it. I sleep in that."

Gibbs grinned as Shepard left the small coffee shop. She was something alright. But redheaded probies would not help his state of mind, especially not with long legs, rich lips and suggestions of her in bed. Gibbs just shook his head and thought back to the case. There was a murderer at FLETC, and it was up to him to find who it was.

X

_"How is Wendy?"_ Ducky asked over the phone, the sound of Robbie cutting something with a saw in the background.

"Her name is Jenny, Duck. Not Wendy. And she's fine - a little shaken up but she hides it well."

_"I know her name is Jenny, Jethro. I was merely making a _Peter Pan_ reference._"

Gibbs snorted. He was standing outside the auditorium, watching all the new agents. One of them would be his new partner, one of them he would have to tolerate seeing every day. He watched Shepard sit down in a group of them, kiss one of the agents on the cheek and gesture a few of them over to listen to her. As they'd headed out of the coffee shop, they had agreed to do it her way. If she screwed up, he had his killer. If it worked, then he would find who it was in the group assembled.

"You got a cause of death, Duck?"

_"Yes. The girl died of strangulation, but not because of the noose. She was __most definitely dead before she was hung up in that tree. There are finger marks around her neck." _

"Thanks Ducky. See you soon."

Jethro opened the door to the auditorium and watched as every head swivelled his way. He frowned half heartedly at the wink that Shepard gave him - proving to him that all the people she was surrounded with believed that this was all a game. One of the people in the room, though, was a killer.

"My name is Special Agent Gibbs. I work at NCIS in DC." Several people shifted in their seats, the boy next to Shepard straightened up and puffed out his chest. "I'm investigating the murder of one of your fellow trainees - Sarah Dane. I've already been filled in on the basics by Agent Shepard." The boy frowned and put his arm around Shepard's chair. Jethro grinned. "I'm going to need your help to find whoever killed Sarah."

Shepard had been right. They looked a lot more responsive as they thought it was all a test, no one crying or letting grief get in the way - maybe this would work after all. The boy trying to grope Shepard raised his hand.

"Sir, how did Agent Dane die?"

Gibbs growled. "Don't call me sir." He noticed a smirk form on Shepard's lips. "Agent Dane died of a broken neck, caused by the noose around her as she hung from a tree."

"So it was suicide, then?" asked one of the young women on the front row. She appeared eager, but with a hint of guilt. Gibbs made a note to interview her later.

"NCIS investigates all suicides as homicides until the evidence tells them otherwise," Shepard stated from the back, and Gibbs grinned. She was good. Pity she was a redhead, a damn probie and had spilled his coffee when she had fallen on him, otherwise she would have made a good partner.

"Agent Shepard is right. Now, I need to conduct individual interviews with everyone to assess their whereabouts and relationship to Agent Dane. How about we start with the agent who needs to get his rocks off in public?" He pointed to the boy cuddling Shepard. "You. Office. Now."

The boy walked down the stairs and into the office adjacent to the auditorium, smiling at his classmates. Just as Gibbs left to join him, he caught sight of Shepard looking at him funny. She knew that her neck hadn't been broken, at least not by the noose. She looked distressed to be left in a room with several students and a killer, but it quickly faded.

Gibbs went off to go interview her boyfriend.

X

"The name is Agent Jack Chrysler. This afternoon, before the trainers called us in, I was with friends before heading to the shooting range. I didn't know Sarah all that well, but she seemed pleasant."

Gibbs didn't like the guy within ten seconds of meeting him. He was snide, a suck up and Gibbs wanted to bash him in the head with something. He'd been given a registered list of the twenty students that he would have to interview - well nineteen now. Of those nineteen, one of them he had to choose to be his new partner. It certainly wouldn't be this guy.

"Anyone who wasn't accounted for, or who has been acting suspiciously?"

Chrysler coughed, putting a sad mask on his face. "Jenny wasn't around. She left around thirty minutes before we were all called in. I don't know where she was." He reached over and held Gibbs' hand. "But Jenny would never hurt Sarah. They got on well!"

He hoped Shepard had a better sense at investigating then she had taste in boyfriends. Chrysler had just sold her down the river for a better mark. Having got what he needed, he dismissed Chrysler, who hung around in the doorway for a moment longer.

"Agent Gibbs, if you need anything, feel free to ask."

"I won't."

Chrysler exited the room. The next person on the list was the young woman who had asked the question earlier. She looked more like a lawyer than a field agent, but she was definitely over eager. She sat down in front of him, hands trembling.

"Is Sarah really dead?"

"Yes. She's really dead."

The woman - Diana Pescali, didn't seem to believe him. Oh well, if she wasn't the killer she would have nothing to worry about. He asked the same questions, got the same answers as Jack Chrysler. Sarah was nice; they didn't have anything to do with each other - the victim was obviously a loner.

"Anyone you can think of that would hurt Sarah?" Gibbs asked.

Diana didn't even hesitate. "Jenny Shepard."

That was not the name he wanted to hear. "How so?"

Diana shuffled her hands before looking at him dead in the eye, eager to dish the dirt. They were all out for themselves, were not afraid to ruin anyone to get what they wanted. "Jenny is dating Jack Chrysler, have been since we started training. What Jenny doesn't know - or maybe she does - is that when she went to DC for a family occasion, Jack hooked up with Sarah. Everyone knows, apart from Jenny."

Gibbs sighed and excused Diana. Just from the first two interviews, Shepard had means and motive to kill Sarah. She could have been up the tree to disturb evidence, remove something incriminating. She did find the body after all.

As he called the next person in, he caught sight of Jenny Shepard talking to her friends. She caught his eye, and Gibbs cursed inwardly. He had just been starting to like her.


	3. Chapter 3

**Murder at ****Cheltenham by DD Agent**

_I do not own NCIS or any of its characters, or its settings - all belongs to the lovely folks at CBS_

_I am so blown away by the reaction to this fic - makes me so happy! I love writing pre-series Jenny/Gibbs! As always, if you have any suggestions about things you'd love to see me write in this series, let me know!_

_Thank you to everyone who is reading, favouriting, alerting. Lots of awesome points and hugs to Miss Jayne, Mrs. Elizabeth Gibbs, HuddyJibbsAddict, 1kiko, left my heart in Paris, MatteaAM, KSPB, xxhiphuggersxx, LilMissJenny and basket-case 1880 for leaving such sweet and wonderful reviews to chapter two! Hope you all enjoy chapter three as much! _

_Chapter four will be up tomorrow! And if you'll excuse me, I'm off to celebrating passing my second year of Uni! :D _

**Chapter Three**

After all the interviews with the trainees and the trainers, he had been offered a motel room at the same place that the trainees were staying. Gibbs didn't want to stay overnight, but he guessed he had to. So after they had all been dismissed, Gibbs had gone out to find take out, a bottle of bourbon and then decided to head to this motel.

Gibbs hadn't made a move on Shepard. Not that any move now would be anything more than handcuffs and throwing her in one of the interview rooms at the Navy Yard. Five of her other classmates had said she had left way before the body had been found, and she definitely had a grudge against the victim, the only one who had. She was the perfect suspect, but Gibbs wasn't so sure.

He parked up, and looked at the place the trainees were staying at. It was a cheap and tacky motel, but it would serve his purpose as a bed to sleep in. Just as he was walking through the car park, he caught sight of one of the cars moving and something that sounded like a slap. Then one of the car windows broke. Gibbs rushed over to the car and yanked open the passenger seat, before pointing his gun at the person in the driver's side.

"Whoa, Agent Gibbs!" It was Chrysler, looking very sheepish. Gibbs looked down to his feet and saw that Jenny Shepard had stumbled onto the tarmac. He dragged her up with one hand and put her behind him. Chrysler was trying to explain. "We were just making out, Agent Gibbs. No need to go all Rambo."

Gibbs slammed the broken car door, breaking the rest of the glass. He dragged Shepard by the arm and moved her along out of the car park. There was a play area and a pool at the back of the motel, shrouded in the dark of the evening. He pushed her down onto one of the sun loungers. A neon light made her face appear harsher than it had looked that morning. There were no bruises, no cuts. Just finger sized marks on her arm and her lipstick was smeared.

"He do that?" Gibbs asked, trying to stop the voice in his head screaming he shouldn't be sympathetic to her.

Jenny looked down at her arm, barely registering the marks. "Actually, I think they're from you. It was all for a good cause, though, thank you for your help. That Chinese?"

He nodded, and tossed her a box. She smiled gratefully, and dug in with a plastic fork. Gibbs turned to his own box, piercing some of the beef. She seemed pretty calm for someone who had strangled and then faked the suicide of a classmate. He decided to turn his attention to the matter of the car.

"Rule number twelve - never date a co worker."

Shepard smiled weakly, wanting to talk about anything other than Jack Chrysler. She should have known that he would try to assert his masculinity over her after watching her with Gibbs earlier that day. She shouldn't have left her car at the motel that morning and had to get a lift back. Still, she hoped Chrysler got the message - she was tired of fitting in with them all.

"Rule number twelve? I don't work for you, Agent Gibbs; I don't have to abide by your rules. Plus, shouldn't it be 'never sleep with a co worker'? I think sex can be much more damaging to a relationship than just dating."

He snorted and reached into her box where he knew the prawns where. He stabbed one with a fork and ate it, while she stole some of his water chestnuts. "Still applies. He's your classmate, colleague, whatever. You shouldn't be involved with him."

"Don't worry, Agent Gibbs. He's just something to do."

It was the honest truth, and Jenny giggled as she watched him spit out whatever he had been eating. She took the opportunity to steal some of his Chinese, until he just gave up and switched their boxes. He then dug into the paper bag he had got, and pulled out the bottle of bourbon and some plastic cups.

"You want some?"

"I drink scotch. But thank you for the offer," Shepard stated, but still held out her paper cup for the drink. It had been a long, rough day on both of them.

After a few minutes of eating and drinking, Gibbs decided to broach the subject again, turning this from a mere casual dinner into an interrogation. "So you wouldn't care if I told you that Chrysler had been sleeping with Sarah Dane? While you were out of town as well."

It was Jenny's turn to snort, and she put the fork in the Chinese box before leaving it alone. She knew she should feel upset over the revelation, but she didn't really care. "I thought he might be sleeping with someone, didn't figure it would be Sarah. Guess you've added me to your list of suspects."

"Top of my list."

"So why are we having dinner if I should be in handcuffs?" Jenny reached out for her Chinese and started eating it again. She was amused at the informality of the situation, and how easy it was to be with Gibbs. She hadn't felt so at ease with someone in quite some time.

Jethro looked down to the floor. It wasn't that she was a redhead, still wearing the shorts from earlier. It wasn't that he considered her a damsel in distress - or an obvious enemy to his shirts and his coffee. There was just something about Shepard that made him smile. A look in her eyes that he had seen before. It had been the look in his eyes before he had met Mike.

"New interrogation technique."

"I see. How's it working out for you?" She really liked feeling part of a conversation again.

He grinned. "You are certainly the most polite murderer I've ever come across."

"I was raised right, Agent Gibbs. My mother always told me to say please and thank you to those considering me for murder in the first degree." Jenny took a sip of the bourbon and wrinkled her nose. She missed her father's scotch. "I have a thought, if you're up for it."

"Go ahead."

Jenny put down her Chinese and shuffled over the sun lounger into Gibbs' line of vision. His rescue of her earlier seemed to be forgotten as she got more involved in the case. Her eyes came alive.

"Well if I'm your only suspect, then that means that there is a fatal flaw in my plan. I'm not the only one in that class who knows Sarah is really dead. The killer knows too, and is steering you wrong." Gibbs nodded, and switched their boxes again. "How did Sarah really die?"

"Strangled by someone and then put up the tree. But every probie in that class has an alibi except for you."

Jenny nodded. "What about the trainers? Do they all have alibis?"

"Of the ones who didn't - one was in the bathroom; another was marking papers in their office. You think one of the trainers did it?"

She shook her head, and decided to switch their paper cups. He had drunk more of his. "Some of the trainers have favourites. If all of the trainees have alibis, then it would make sense that one of the trainers found the body and hung it up to make it look like a suicide."

"Your reason?"

"Simple." Jenny reached again for the Chinese, but Gibbs stabbed his fork in the box she was going for. The message was clear - reason first. "The person who hung them in the tree did so because it was convenient to where she was found. I bet you the rest of this Chinese that she wasn't killed at the shooting range, someone would have noticed before I did. There was no sign of a struggle, and Sarah didn't turn up for classes this morning."

Gibbs turned to the motel behind him. "You think she was killed in her room, and then dumped in the lunch break?"

"It's a theory." Jenny smirked. "Want to go investigate?"

Gibbs knew he should say no. But her idea made sense - why dump the victim two places? Why not hang them straight away in the tree? Unless Jenny had disturbed them when she had gone to the shooting range. Still, investigating with Shepard was better than spending the night alone in his motel room. And she seemed to know it.

"You stay behind me. And don't touch anything."

"I'll show you which room was hers."

They binned the rest of the Chinese, and Gibbs left the bottle of bourbon by the pool deck. He shouldn't be drinking anyway; he just needed something to take the edge off this nightmare. Once they were all set to go, Gibbs moved out in front of Jenny as she pointed out the room. It was a basic lock, which meant that with his pick kit, he could get in quite easily.

"Should you be doing this Special Agent Gibbs? I do believe it's illegal," she loved the way his eyes flashed deep blue when he got annoyed. It was cute.

Gibbs looked up to see Shepard smirking at him. Oh, he wanted to head slap her like Mike had done to him plenty of times. "It's the victim's motel room, well within my rights to have a look. Should have been the first place I looked, but I was stuck interviewing the next generation of NCIS, god help us."

"You should go see the motel manager, get the key." She was really risking a head slap now. "Or you could just use the master key that I swiped from them last week."

Gibbs groaned as he took the key from her. "This doesn't make you any less of a suspect."

He swung the door open, and took in the scene in front of him. Sheets were a mess and strewn over the place, a lamp was broken. Gibbs walked in, taking a pair of gloves out of his pocket. He cursed as he found what was in the tacky art deco rug.

"There are fingernails in the rug."

He looked up to see that Shepard wasn't there. He walked out of the room and found her overlooking the pool. She seemed upset, clinging onto the railing.

Gibbs walked up beside her and rested his hand near hers. She was trying hard not to cry, but the fingernails had got to her. How much pain had she been in before she died? One of his fingertips brushed hers gently, and she looked up to see him staring at her. "I didn't do this to Sarah."

"I believe you." It was the truth. His gut told him that Jenny Shepard didn't kill Sarah Dane, and it had never steered him wrong so far.

Shepard exhaled. "Then do you mind if we catch this son of a bitch?"

X

Shepard had pulled down the fire alarm, and Gibbs had threatened the motel manager to keep everyone outside until the forensic team could go over Sarah Dane's room. Of course, the forensic team was just Shepard keeping watch, Gibbs dusting for fingerprints and Jeremy, the ballistics expert in NCIS. She was assistant to the forensic expert they had on staff, and she was happy to come out and help process the room. She knew that Gibbs was down a partner.

"How's Sam?" Gibbs asked as he continued dusting for prints. Sam was Jeremy's boss, and a pretty nice guy. His kids always came in when he had to work Saturdays, and despite his pain at thinking Kelly should be able to do the same thing, he always made sure that both had a chocolate bar in their pockets by the end of the day.

"He's good. Pacci had some evidence that needed processing which is why you've got the second string instead of the Quarterback playing for you."

Jeremy was collecting fibres on the bed, and several hairs that someone had left behind. The brunette had previously worked for the FBI, but defected after they had ignored some important forensic evidence and instead turned to spiting NCIS. She had changed teams, and her ballistics work was spot on. Gibbs was happy to have her in the field.

After a couple of moments of watching Shepard still by the door, he turned to Jeremy. "Let's see if we've got any fluids on the sheets."

Shepard shut off the lights for him, and he tossed her a pair of glasses. True enough, they had fluids on the bed, most likely semen. Jeremy bagged the sheets.

"If you've got any suspects, a DNA test would be helpful so we can match them up."

Gibbs nodded. "First thing tomorrow, come back and I'll give you DNA from all my male suspects. Thanks Jeremy, I think we've got all we can."

Jeremy waved goodbye to Gibbs with a box full of samples and evidence. She nodded to Jenny on her way out. Jethro looked at his watch as he headed out of the room, shutting it with some joke crime scene tape that Jenny had bought. It was only the probies staying in the motel, and they would all think it would be part of the test, a test that seemed to be only working on Jenny Shepard. It was late, and he was tired. He could see in Shepard's face that she was tired too.

"Can I ask you a really inappropriate question?"

He chuckled. They had known each other less than twenty four hours and she had fell on him, practically straddling him, and he'd also accused her of murder. He didn't think there were any inappropriate questions left. "Go ahead."

Jenny sighed, building up her courage. "I'm staying in my motel room with Jack. And as he is now top of my list of possible killers as he slept with the victim and is just generally an egotistical asshole, I would rather not sleep in the same room as him tonight. Can I sleep on your floor?"

He didn't answer, just led her by the elbow to the motel room he had been given. There wasn't anything in it; he hadn't even brought a change of clothes or anything. It had been a long day, and all he wanted was a shower. Locking the door and muttering something about hitting the head, he went and unwound. His brain was on fire, and that was not just because a long legged redhead was in his bedroom. There was something more to her than just that.

When he got out of the shower, he expected to have to turf her out of his bed. Instead, he found her curled up in the chair, a dried tear on her cheek. She was shivering a little, still only wearing the sports kit. He found his jacket and placed it over her, trying to keep her warm. She stirred and her green eyes were the only bright thing in the room.

"Thank you, Gibbs. Thank you for everything."

He sat down on the edge of the bed, noticing how drained she looked. He looked the same in the mirror. It wasn't about the body; it wasn't discovering the fingernails or losing his coffee so early in the morning. It was that only one person seemed to care about Sarah, care about her enough to find her killer.

"Go to sleep, Shepard. You'll feel better in the morning."

He heard a snort as he crashed down on the sheets. "I won't feel better until we catch the bastard that did that to Sarah."

As Gibbs closed his eyes, he thought he had never agreed with a statement more.

X

Down by the pool, someone watched as Jenny Shepard and Agent Gibbs went into his motel room and didn't come out. When it was only an hour or so before sunrise and no one had surfaced, they went to finish what they started.


	4. Chapter 4

**Murder at ****Cheltenham by DD Agent**

_I do not own NCIS or any of its characters, or its settings - all belongs to the lovely folks at CBS_

_The penultimate chapter! :D Thank you to everyone who is reading, alerting, favouriting, making paper mache figures of Jenny and Gibbs... ; ) Big thank yous to the lovely people who reviewed chapter three: MTGZ, xxhiphuggersxx, basket-case1880, MissJayne, Mrs. Elizabeth Gibbs, 1kiko, She-Demon Sparacino, MatteaAM, left my heart in Paris and HuddyJibbsAddict - you are all made of awesome! :D _

_The final chapter of this story will be up tomorrow, but in the mean time, I hope you enjoy this! xx_

**Chapter Four**

Gibbs woke up at the first knock of his door. He looked up to see that Shepard wasn't there, but his jacket was neatly folded in her place. Pulling open the door, he saw that it was Shepard waiting for him. She must have snuck out early to grab a shower and a change of clothes, but she was shaking.

There were no signs that Chrysler had attacked her during the night, no bruises or a bloody nose. She just looked refreshed but shaken up.

"I got up early to take a shower and change, and Diana caught me. She said that Kirby, one of the trainers, wanted to talk to me. He's from Glynco and so he's staying here and I went over to talk to him and his door was ajar. He's hanging from the light."

He grabbed his gun and headed out of the motel room, down the corridor to where the trainer's room was. He pointed his gun inside and saw the man Shepard called Kirby hanging from the ceiling. "I'll make a call."

The game plan had gone out of the window, literally. Everyone was queuing up to see one of their trainers hanging from the ceiling, and now no one believed that Sarah was secretly alive. Maybe this way he'd see some honest emotion instead of the backstabbing of the previous day. Ducky and Robbie made their way to cut the body down and make an examination, pushing through the sea of curious faces.

After a minute, someone rapped on the door and Gibbs dragged whoever it was through. It was Shepard, no longer looking shook up. If anything, she seemed more resolute to catch a killer.

"Ah, hello again!" Ducky greeted as he saw that Jenny had joined them.

Jenny smiled at the medical examiner as she saw him, remembering his kindness from the day before. "Hello. It was Doctor Mallard, wasn't it?"

He waved his hand. "Call me Ducky, please! All my friends do. How are you getting on with Jethro?"

Jenny turned on Gibbs, grinning like a Muppet while he looked like he had swallowed a bug. They were getting on well, despite a few ups and downs. She could see herself working well with someone like him at NCIS. "Your first name is 'Jethro'? That's so cute. The illusion of 'Special Agent Gibbs' is shattered."

Gibbs glared at her before kneeling down to examine the body with Ducky. The medical examiner pulled away the noose to see the same strangle marks, and Gibbs found himself relieved. At least they didn't have two killers running around.

"So it's the same killer." All three men turned around to see Jenny looking intently at the body. "Just to be clear, Agent Gibbs, no one was cheating on me with Kirby. He was doing extra sessions on the shooting range though - Sarah was with him a lot of the time."

Robbie looked over the noose that had been made by a curtain rope, not an old gym rope like the day before. "Single knot instead of the double knot from yesterday."

Gibbs turned to Shepard, putting the pieces together. "So you were right, Shepard. The person who killed Sarah and the person who hung her up like a Christmas tree are two different people."

"It's proving my theory right. He could have found Sarah after I came in and decided to cover for one of the students."

"Then the killer decided to cover him up."

Gibbs pointed for Shepard to wait outside while he talked to Ducky. His old friend passed him the bag he had left behind in his desk - toiletries and a spare shirt. He was still wearing Shepard's FLETC t-shirt.

"She's getting on quite well Jethro. Any other stand out candidates?"

Gibbs had forgotten he was supposed to work with the other trainees. He wasn't used to working with such a big group; he preferred to just work with a partner. Shepard had been brilliant so far though - she was probably the best of the bunch too. But he wasn't sure whether being good was just good enough. Whoever his partner was, he needed to know they had his back.

"Not so far, Duck, not so far."

Gibbs nodded to both Ducky and Robbie before heading out to go talk to the massing group of students. Robbie turned to Ducky and grinned. "Do you think Gibbs has figured out she'd be perfect as his partner?"

"I think the fact she's his type romantically is putting him off seeing her as anything else." Ducky smiled. "She's certainly good. Would be nice to have some new blood around."

After exchanging smiles, they turned to the body in front of them. "Come on Mister Staines; let's get you back to the Navy Yard."

X

Back in the auditorium, with a clean shirt he hadn't let Shepard anywhere near; he went in front of the class again. They looked different from yesterday - they looked scared. The layout of the class was also different - while yesterday Chrysler had been in the centre of the group with Shepard, she now sat on her own near the front. Near him.

"I take it you have all figured out that this is not a test. Sarah Dane is very much dead, and Kirby Staines has also been murdered." There was a rumbling in the group, all of them experiencing some emotion. A couple of them looked excited. "Now, we know that Sarah had sex with someone before she died; there was semen on her bed sheets. I'm not going to ask who it was, because you'll lie. So, all the males in this room are going to submit to a DNA test, even the trainers. If you don't, I'll arrest you for obstruction of justice and pretty much ruin your career in NCIS. We clear?"

The sixteen males in the group went down to the front of the auditorium where Jeremy had just arrived and was waiting, ready to collect the DNA samples they would compare to the semen. Chrysler stopped on the front row just as he gave his sample, and looked at Jenny. She avoided his gaze, and that seemed to infuriate Chrysler even more.

"Tell me, Agent Gibbs; is it okay for you to be conducting this enquiry when you've slept with one of the suspects?"

Jeremy and Jenny looked up to where Chrysler was standing three steps up, glaring at Gibbs. The Special Agent just moved past the DNA collection and stood up to Chrysler. He grinned, before leaning in to whisper something in his ear. Jenny was close enough to hear it.

"Maybe she just needed a man who could satisfy her."

Gibbs moved off, Chrysler not risking assaulting a Federal Agent, even though he was tempted to. Jethro caught her eye as he walked back to Jeremy, and Jenny couldn't help but smile at him. She tried to resist blushing, as he was right on all counts. But he didn't know that.

"Now, I'm going to interview you all again. And if you don't tell me the truth, or you try and put the blame onto your classmates so you think you'll get a better grade - tell me what I'll do to them, Agent Shepard?"

He turned to her, smiling. She grinned back - they were quite a team. "Arrest them for obstruction of justice?"

"Top of the class." Jethro grinned. "Chrysler. As it seems you're determined for a showdown, in there."

X

Chrysler sat in front of the desk he had been at yesterday, no longer having any respect for the Federal Agent in front of him. Gibbs slammed the files he had down, and sat back as he examined Chrysler. He was a pretty boy, and he could see the ego that Shepard had accused him of. He knew what he wanted, and he expected everyone to give it to him.

"You slept with my girlfriend," Chrysler muttered under his breath, looking at Gibbs under hooded lids. Shepard deserved a whole lot better.

"Well you cheated on her with Sarah Dane. You didn't tell me that, Chrysler, you lied to me. So, let's start at the beginning. Were you sleeping with Sarah? I got half your class saying you were."

Chrysler attempted to stare Gibbs out before he broke. "Yeah, I slept with Sarah. I was horny, and Sarah liked me. She's cute, not as hot as Jenny is, but she's okay. I wasn't getting any from Jenny anyway, girl has gone all frigid." He snarled at Gibbs. "That was until you turned up and then she can't keep her eyes or her hands off you."

Gibbs rolled his eyes, trying very hard not to hurt Chrysler. "When my lab techs try and match the semen on those sheets with the samples we've collected, will they match you?"

Chrysler growled. "Yeah, they will. I had sex with Sarah early yesterday morning. Jenny was asleep. She was _alive _when I left her. I didn't kill her."

This guy was a dirt bag. "Who knew you were sleeping with Sarah?"

"Pretty much everyone, even the trainers." Chrysler groaned. "Diana saw me sneaking out of Sarah's room yesterday. A couple of my friends, Michael and Dan, knew I wasn't getting any from Jenny and I had talked things over with Trainer Staines a few times."

"Why did you lie to me yesterday?"

Chrysler sighed. "I lied yesterday because I had an argument with Sarah that morning and I figured she was doing this to get even with me. Didn't want to give her the satisfaction of acknowledging we were hooking up. She wanted me to leave Jenny for her, but that wasn't going to happen. Sarah may be nice, but she's no Jenny Shepard. You know, Gibbs, you've done that."

Gibbs took on the information and then reached over and grabbed Chrysler by the scruff of his neck. The boy looked terrified, but Gibbs just threw him back to the seat. The boy disgusted him, and there was something about him he did not like. He just wasn't sure whether he was the killer or not.

"Stay away from Jenny Shepard, you got me?"

He then dismissed Chrysler, wanting him as far away as possible. Gibbs didn't know why he had given him the warning, but as he caught Shepard's gaze, he knew. He was attracted to her, and the remarks about them sleeping together got under his skin. Maybe because the night before he had been restless in bed and she had curled up in a chair.

"Pescali!"

Diana heard her name and came running across into the small office. Once the young woman had settled, he noticed she looked scared. Her mascara had run, she had been crying. He supposed it was the physical reaction of grief, now knowing Sarah was dead, but it still seemed fake to him. He tried the same trick with the files again, and watched as Diana jumped.

"Okay, we're going to start this whole process again. You knew Sarah slept with Chrysler the morning that she died and you said nothing. Why?"

Diana chewed on her bottom lip. "I didn't want to get Jack in trouble. I wanted to get Jenny in trouble, she's such a little goody two shoes."

"You don't like Jenny. Why?"

She rolled her eyes. "I just don't understand why she's here. Her clothes are expensive; she has her own car and a place in Georgetown. The time when Sarah first hooked up with Jack? She was going to a party held by some Admiral. She's a Navy brat, knows all the big wigs. And it's not like she's bad or anything, she's damn good. Top of the class in everything. Perfect little princess."

Gibbs wondered if any of Jenny's classmates had seen the real Jenny Shepard. His experience of her was limited, granted, but she seemed to be accident prone, flirtatious but also damn good at her job. Certainly not a spoiled princess - he had watched her sleep for a few moments in that chair. She was used to small spaces.

"So do you know anything of use? Other than that Chrysler slept with the victim before she died? Do you know why someone may have killed Kirby Staines?"

Diana shook her head. "Kirby was a good trainer. He was tutoring Sarah, getting up her firearms experience. She keeps - kept - missing the target. His favourite student was Jack though."

"Do you think that if Kirby thought Chrysler had killed someone, he'd cover for him?"

She opened her mouth to rebuke the statement, but she closed it soon after and nodded her head. "Jack was Kirby's favourite. He kept going on about how amazing he was, and how he would probably end up Director one day. They even went for drinks a couple of times back in Georgia."

Gibbs wrote it all down on his notepad. Now they just had to figure out whether Chrysler had actually killed Sarah and Kirby, or whether someone was framing him. Gibbs hoped he was the killer, just so he could slap some handcuffs on really tight. As he let Diana out of the small office, he looked over the group of students, a little smaller than before. Shepard was not there. And Chrysler wasn't either.

He ran out of the auditorium, looking both ways as if to spot Shepard. He didn't know where she would go, other than to look over the crime scene again. Sprinting in that direction, Gibbs hoped he wouldn't find her hanging from the tree.

X

Jenny had snuck out of the auditorium, hoping that Gibbs wouldn't kill her for investigating on her own. But he seemed so busy with the interviews and she had a theory that she wanted to investigate all on her own. Well, without Gibbs glaring at her. She couldn't put her finger on the Special Agent, but there was something about him that she found interesting. She liked that he hadn't believed she could be a murderer, and he was rather adorable when he slept.

Of course, she shouldn't think about him like that. He was probably married with kids and was flirting with her out of a knight in shining armour complex. But, still, his words to Jack had got under her skin and got her all hot and bothered.

She had snuck into the shooting range with a flashlight, the place having been closed since the afternoon classes and after Jenny's statement. No one had tampered with anything apart from Kirby, who she believed had moved the body. But it wasn't the moving of the body that bothered Jenny, it was the placing in the shooting range. When she had discovered her father's body, there had been a gun in his hand and the scene had been staged to look like a suicide. Sarah's body looked like she had been killed at the range. But why?

As she stood in front of the shooting booths, Jenny realised that ever since they had come to Cheltenham, she had been in the shooting range over their lunch break every day. Had Sarah been placed at the range so Jenny would be framed for murder? She certainly had motive. Maybe if Jenny hadn't been so single minded yesterday, she might have found Sarah strangled and not hung up on the tree - and then she would have been arrested for murder.

Just as Jenny was contemplating being set up in front of one of the booths, a pair of hands in the back found their way around her throat and started strangling her. She kicked behind her, trying to get out of the grip of her attacker. She managed to elbow them in the face, causing them to jerk their hands away from her neck, but a back handed slap landed her to the floor.

"FEDERAL AGENT!"

When Jenny looked up, she saw Gibbs pointing his gun at empty space. Whoever had attacked her had scarpered. Her neck was sore, and so was her cheek. She was bleeding a little from the corner of her mouth - the slap had been hard. Gibbs lifted her up from the floor as he had done the night before and dragged her to her feet. He didn't look impressed.

"Gibbs, I…"

He shook his head, his blue eyes piercing into hers. They looked like shards of ice. He was so disappointed in her, he thought that they were…but no. He had been right though, FLETC was not the best place to find his partner.

"No. Whatever you want to say, Shepard, no. You shouldn't have gone off, half cocked, investigating here for whatever goddamn reason. You do not have a gun; you are not an agent yet. I shouldn't have let you be part of this investigation; obviously that was a goddamn mistake."

He went to storm out, and Jenny tried to grab his arm. She didn't want him to be mad at her; she was only testing out a theory. He pushed her away, and she stumbled on her feet.

"Go back to the auditorium; everyone is going back to the motel. Stay there, and let me do my job, Shepard. Like you should have done in the first place instead of climbing up a damn tree!"

"I just wanted to…"

He slammed his hand against one of the training stalls. "I know what you wanted to do, Shepard! But working together doesn't mean going off and getting yourself strangled. My mistake was thinking you were a different kind of probie, but I guess you're just the same as all your damn classmates, trying to get that top grade."

With that, he stormed out of the shooting range and left her to massage the growing bruises around her neck. She wouldn't cry, even though she felt the need to. She was stronger than that, even though she felt more alone than before.


	5. Chapter 5

**Murder at ****Cheltenham by DD Agent**

_I do not own NCIS or any of its characters, or its settings - all belongs to the lovely folks at CBS_

_ITS THE LAST CHAPTER! : ( Very sad times. It has been a great few days with you all, so many alerts, favourites, reviews! I don't think I've ever had such a well recieved story, so thank you so much for this! As always, gold stars and chocolate bars to those who leave me such amazing reviews, I *love* to know how people like the story, and people's theories and happy parts. Makes all the editing worth it *giggles* So, thank you so much to MatteaAM, 1kiko, BabieLizzie, left my heart in Paris, She-Demon Sparacino, Mrs. Elizabeth Gibbs, xxhiphuggersxx, LilMissJenny, MTGZ, basket-case1880 and HuddyJibbsAddict. _

_Despite this being the last chapter of "Murder at Cheltenham", I have plenty more ideas for the '97 Series [and for NCIS in general. My spreadsheet is *huge*]. If you have any suggestions of things you want to see in the series, canon facts you want included, drop me a PM. If you want to prompt me somthing, or you have any suggestions [or requests for sequels] let me know! If you just want to talk fic or Jenny/Gibbs, go ahead! _

_You all are amazing, and I hope you enjoy chapter five! :D _

**Chapter Five**

He was furious with Shepard. He should have expected her to do something like that, she was still a probie after all, desperate to get the highest mark, to receive the highest honour. It was her damn red hair and pretty features that had thrown him. But she was nothing special, just another probie.

Gibbs had sent all of the students including Shepard back to the motel where he could keep an eye on them all. He sat down by the sun lounger where he and Shepard had eaten dinner, and tried to work through which one of them he would want as his partner. Shepard was a no go, even without the issue of his attraction to her; he didn't think he could ever fully trust her. Some of the others had been promising, but in the end he decided he would just let Morrow pick one of them and he'd have to break them in.

Feeling someone watching him, Gibbs looked up to see Shepard hanging off the railings. She had no room to go back to. Her boyfriend Chrysler was still unaccounted for, and although his gut didn't agree, he appeared to be the killer. That was the real reason why he had sent them to the motel instead of leaving them at the training centre - the promise of Shepard was enough to lure Chrysler back.

They held each other's gaze until his phone rang. It was Sam with the lab results. "Talk to me, Sam. What you got?"

_"Too many cases and not enough coffee. But for you, I have a DNA match to the semen found in victim number one's bed."_

"Jack Chrysler?"

He heard Sam chuckle over the phone. _"Got it in one, Gibbs. Jack Chrysler had sex with her before she died. However, what is really interesting is that we found a set of fingerprints in both rooms that don't match Jack Chrysler."_

Gibbs sat up, not expecting that. "Who did both the sets belong to?" _Please not Shepard, please not Shepard._

_"A Michael Stokes? __The trainees have already had their fingerprints registered, and he matched some prints found in both rooms. He's also one of the DNA samples we tested, and we found a hair of his in victim number one's bed. I'd bet one of my kids he's your guy." _

"Thank you Sam!"

Gibbs jumped up, noticing that Jenny had disappeared from the railings. He ran to the nearest student he could find, which happened to be Diana. He grabbed her by the wrist, cursing himself for missing the guy. He remembered his interview - nothing had jumped out at him. This guy was good, but not good enough.

"Michael Stokes - who the hell is he?"

Diana fumbled to explain, her teeth chewing her lip. "Mi-Michael Stokes is really good friends with Jack. They've known each other since College; Michael's always been really supportive of him. He was just in the car park I think."

Letting her go, Gibbs raced off to the car park out the back of the motel. That was when he saw a car peeling away, Jack Chrysler gagged in the back seat and the man he remembered as Michael Stokes in the front. Gibbs turned to his own car, and found the tires had been slashed. Michael had known that he wasn't a suspect and made provisions.

"DAMMIT!" Gibbs cursed, slamming his hands on the boot of his car.

Behind him he heard the jangle of keys. He turned and saw Shepard holding out a set of car keys, smiling weakly at him. "You can use my car. If I come, of course. This isn't for extra credit, just so you know; this is to catch a psychopath."

"Then move it already, Stokes is getting away!"

Jenny sprinted over to the Camaro in the corner of the car park. She tossed Gibbs the keys as he got in the driver's side and once the keys were in the ignition, he jammed on the accelerator. Jenny barely had any time to put her seatbelt on before they were flying out of the car park and after the car that held Stokes and Chrysler.

"This is a first generation Camaro, you know."

"I know. It's a nice car."

Jenny rolled her eyes, but still smirked. She decided to clear the air, even though she knew Gibbs would hate that. Any man who hated apologies would also hate long talks. "I can't believe its Michael. He was always too clingy to Jack, overprotective, you know? It would make sense that he'd want to frame me for Sarah's murder - that's what I discovered before he tried to strangle me."

Gibbs turned another corner in the Camaro, chasing after the two men in the other car. Jenny gripped on to anything she could, which at that moment happened to be Gibbs' hand. They both looked down before breaking apart.

"All makes perfect sense now, guy is good. He's obsessed with Jack, overhears Sarah telling him that she wants him to dump you for her. They get into an argument and Michael thinks he can kill two birds with one stone. Get rid of the annoying lover by framing the frigid girlfriend." Jenny glared at him. "Chrysler's words, not mine. Of course he didn't bank on Kirby, so he kills him to make sure Jack is in the clear, and to cover his own ass. Then, he goes after you as you're sleeping with a handsome Federal Agent, cheating on Jack."

Jenny laughed as he drove around another corner. "So which Federal Agent am I sleeping with then?" She nearly fell into him as he turned yet another corner. "It would explain how Jack assumed we were sleeping together - Michael must have been spying on me and saw me go into your room last night. He then told Jack to ruin our…well it was never really a relationship."

After another stretch of road, they managed to drive the car in front into a dead end. The car with Stokes and Chrysler in stopped, and Gibbs also stopped the Camaro. Jethro reached behind him and placed something in Jenny's lap. It was his back up weapon. He was wondering if he should, a probie as back up was not a good idea. But all she needed to do was point and look threatening.

"You need this; don't be afraid to use it. You good on the range? Everyone seems to think you're Super Girl."

Jenny looked down at the weapon. She could do this, she would be fine, she could overcome the one inch miss on the range. Gibbs needed her as back up; she needed to be there for him. "He tried to kill me, he killed Sarah. I can do this."

Both of them moved out of the car and towards the other vehicle, guns out in front. Michael moved out of the driver's side, and dragged out Chrysler before pointing a gun at his head. Gibbs gestured for Jenny to stay behind him; he was the Special Agent after all.

"Michael Stokes, you are under arrest for the murder of Sarah Dane and Kirby Staines," Gibbs stated, and Michael just nodded, smiling. He didn't seem too bothered with the possibility of a murder conviction.

"Well done Gibbs, I see your forensic techs are not as dumb as you are! Was a risk not wiping down the room but I didn't want Jack to come back and find me. We're very close you see, very close."

"And Kirby? Ran out of time then too?"

Michael pressed the gun harder into Chrysler's temple. "No, by then I just didn't give a fuck. Even gave up on the original plan, getting rid of that slut Shepard. You know, she used Jack like trash, used him to advance herself. He's going to be Director one day, aren't you Jack?" Michael squeezed Chrysler's shoulder. "I had no problems with it until a real life Federal Agent comes along and she opens her legs to you in less than twenty four fucking hours. Fucking slut - all pretty on the outside but a little bitch on the inside."

Gibbs raised his gun higher, protective over Jenny. What was she like around these guys anyway? She didn't fit in with them, she was better than what they stood for. Despite his anger earlier, she was in NCIS for a pure reason, to make a difference and to escape whatever was haunting those green orbs of hers. He knew what that was like, and knew what a difference she could make trying to run from that pain.

"Stokes, put down Chrysler and the gun, and then we can talk about things."

He heard something shake from behind him and saw that Jenny was trembling. Michael started to laugh, and Gibbs felt like breaking something. Never work with probies.

"I'm not too worried, Gibbs. Your back up is Shepard. I've seen her on the shooting range; she always gets the heart but never the head. Which is ironic, as she's all head and no heart. Got a little back heart, haven't you Shepard?"

Gibbs moved forward in front of Shepard, hoping she didn't shoot him in the back. He put his gun down on the floor as a sign of trust to Michael. "Okay, you don't have to worry about Shepard and I'm unarmed. How about you let Chrysler go now? You don't want to hurt him; you've been trying to protect him. So protect him, let him go."

The words seemed to get through to Stokes and he nodded slowly. Gibbs hoped to get through this whole thing without any blood being spilled, especially not the redhead's behind him. However, he should have known that someone like Stokes, so controlled and yet so insane, wouldn't go without a fight. Just as Michael let Chrysler drop to the floor, Stokes raised his gun and pointed it straight at Gibbs' head, his finger tugging the trigger.

A gunshot echoed in the alley, and Gibbs watched as a bullet ripped through Michael's head and pulled him down to the ground. He looked behind him and saw Shepard lower her gun. Her hands started shaking before they stopped and she held the gun firmly. She wasn't even a full NCIS Agent yet, and already she had made her first kill.

"Shepard."

Gibbs touched her arm and she broke out of her reverie to look at him. His eyes were back to the warmth she had seen earlier. She looked back at Michael's broken body and pressed herself into Gibbs. They had found the man who had killed Sarah, she had had her justice.

"You okay?" She looked up at him, the bruises obvious around her neck.

"No." She hadn't even had time to think, just saw Stokes about to fire and took the shot. A part of her was glad the man was dead, and Gibbs was alive. But the idea that she had killed someone made her shiver. "No I'm not."

He watched her move back in the passenger seat of the car, his gun put on the dashboard. He called it in, leaving Chrysler on the floor where he belonged. He didn't deserve any special treatment, the woman in the car who had saved his life did. Turning back, their eyes met through the windshield, and the tear that dripped down her cheek touched her smile. They had caught the killer. It was all over now.

X

It had been a week since the case in Cheltenham. He'd been caught up in several terrorist operations since then, and it was only now that he had handed in his final report. All the students, apart from the two that had died, had graduated and were now official NCIS Agents. They'd hang around the Navy Yard for a while, until they were assigned their new positions.

"Special Agent Gibbs?"

Gibbs nodded at the Director's assistant as he kicked away from his desk and headed up the stairs. After Michael's body had been collected and Chrysler had been returned to the motel, Gibbs had dropped Shepard off in her Georgetown house. She needed to be alone, and while his offer of company had brought a smile, he knew she would say no. He still thought about her, thought about all that potential she had. Another part of him thought how pretty she was, but that pretty came at a price. She was damaged, that was for sure. But then, so was he.

"Special Agent Gibbs, sit down."

Gibbs took a seat in front of Morrow, who had a copy of his report. He flicked through the pages before turning to him. "Good job, Agent Gibbs. Although you disregarded my request to work with the new agents instead of treating them like suspects, you managed to catch the man who did it, and there wasn't any press about it. Of course, there is something missing from your report."

"Who I want as my partner."

"Yes, indeed." Morrow flicked through the file again. "You had some incredibly complimentary things to say about Jennifer Shepard."

"She's quite amazing, Director," Gibbs smiled, thinking about the drive to Georgetown. He expected her to break down after her first kill, but she just seemed satisfied. Justice had been done. "I see big things in her future."

Morrow nodded. "Quite. She speaks excellent French and Italian. There are plans to send her to the Naples outpost; it's a good start for her rather than working in DC." He smiled and passed Gibbs along another file. "Agent Robert Hawthorne, you interviewed him?"

Gibbs remembered him briefly. He had complimentary things to say about everyone, had gone along with everything without protest. But he was just a faceless agent. Jethro jerked his head up when he realised Morrow was still speaking. "…fantastic agent, very highly commended. I'm sure you'll work well together."

He nodded, taking the file, but knowing he wouldn't need it. The Director escorted him out of his office, where Gibbs looked out onto the bullpen and grinned. Morrow was about to enter MTAC when Gibbs decided to seek a little payback for the FLETC case, good working relationship be damned. The Special Agent grinned as he called out to the Director.

"I actually have picked my new partner, Director. Called them up, offered them the job. They accepted. Hope you don't mind, sir, but I prefer to pick my own partners. Someone who I definitely know has my back."

He gave the Director the file back. Gibbs smiled down into the bullpen, and Morrow moved from MTAC to look downwards, where Jenny Shepard was examining Gibbs' glass of water with coins resting inside it. She gave a one handed wave to the two men looking at her.

Morrow turned to Gibbs, not impressed. There were several high ranking members of the Navy who wanted Jasper Shepard's daughter in positions other than working crimes in DC. She was too good for that. "What part of Naples did you not understand Agent Gibbs?"

"All of it, Director. All of it."

X

"Oh wow."

She had never been in the NCIS headquarters at the Navy Yard before. After some directions, she hit the main floor where all the agents were. The walls were bright, but she liked that. Sometimes her house seemed too dark. She couldn't spot Gibbs, but she knew he was around somewhere.

_"Shepard?"_

_"Yeah. Gibbs? Everything okay?" _

Everyone looked at her as she entered the floor, and Jenny felt a little self conscious as she walked to see if someone could tell her where Gibbs was. She'd worn heels instead of the flats she had worn during most of her time at FLETC. The bruises around her neck were fading a little, but she still felt a little sore. Maybe once she caught sight of Gibbs, she'd feel better.

_"Everything's fine, Shepard. Congratulations on graduating. You __been offered any positions yet?"_

_"One of the trainers was talking about it, but no one has called me up. Why?" _

_"Want a job?" _

Graduating to become a full NCIS agent had been good, but more a means to an end. She had almost expected Gibbs to attend her graduation, but that was just wishful thinking. However, after sitting at her kitchen table, trying a glass of bourbon, her phone had rung. It had been Gibbs, and for one moment Jenny had hoped he had called her up to ask for a date. She liked him, and would be quite happy to go down that route. But the idea of working with him, that was something she wanted even more.

Finally she saw Gibbs come out of the top of the catwalk with a man she knew to be the NCIS Director. They were talking until they eventually saw her. She waved at them, wondering what they could be talking about. After accepting Gibbs' offer, she had received a couple of other calls from team leaders. But there was no one she wanted to work with more than Gibbs. With him, she didn't feel alone anymore.

"Hey Gibbs."

"Hey yourself." He had come down from talking to the Director, and was looking over her with a smile. It was good to see her looking so happy, and seeing her in the bullpen made him realise he couldn't have made a better decision.

"Are you sure you want to do this? I mean, I only worked with you to get a higher grade," Jenny teased, but Gibbs shook his head.

"Shepard, you saved my life. I need my partner to have my back, and you do." He smirked, and Jenny realised he was going to say something truly complimentary. "There is no one I want as my partner right now more than you."

Jenny beamed. "Does this mean I have to learn your rules?"

Gibbs chuckled before moving his hand behind Jenny's head to slap her. She slapped him on the shoulder back, but her smile was still wide. "Of course it does, Shepard. You're still a probie, and you'll do as I say, a concept no doubt you'll have trouble with. I've got fifty rules you have to learn."

"Fifty? The Bible only had ten."

She moved out of the way of another head slap, enjoying herself. "The most important one for you, Shepard, is rule thirty four: "Don't climb trees"."

Jenny giggled and she watched as Gibbs joined in. She could see the Director watching them, interested, from above. "That's not one of your rules."

"It's a special one I added just for you." Gibbs pointed to the desk next to his own. "That's your desk, Shepard. And, I do believe, this is yours as well." He shoved something in her hands. It was her FLETC t-shirt that he had borrowed.

Jenny grinned. "Thank you. I actually had to make do and buy proper pyjamas to sleep in." Gibbs raised an eyebrow and was about to respond, but before they could continue their flirting; the phone on Gibbs' desk rang. She moved out of the way so he could answer it.

"Okay, we'll be there." He turned to Shepard, smiling. "Grab your gear; you got your first official crime scene. I see you up a tree; I'll send you back to FLETC."

Jenny nodded and was double checking she had everything, including her newly given service weapon, when she realised Gibbs was halfway to the elevator with a cup of coffee. She chased after him, managing to slip in before the doors closed but colliding with Gibbs. Thankfully his coffee was well out of reach.

Both of them grimaced. "Rule Twenty Three, Shepard. Never mess with a marine's coffee if you want to live."

"Is it too late to say yes to Naples?"

The palm of his hand connected with the back of her head again, but despite Jenny's physical protest at the action, both of them were smiling. Even though Jenny didn't want to be corny and say it was the start of a beautiful friendship, she knew that she would never ask for a better partner than Leroy Jethro Gibbs. As his hand rested lightly on her shoulder, she knew he felt the same.


End file.
